Highline Stereo Retrofit

Mod Description

So, you bought a Bosch Highline touch screen stereo and want to fit it to your car? As long as you have a smart that can accommodate a double DIN stereo, you are in luck.

Mod Details

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Fitting The Highline Stereo

This is the Bosch Highline touch screen stereo in its natural habitat.

It was an expensive option available on all facelift cars made after October 2010. The book price was about £600 but to buy it new from smart it costs £1200. These do surface on eBay fairly regularly so keep your eye out for a bargain.

When I say bargain, I mean it. Below £100 and it might be worth getting. Remember that the Highline is very unreliable and VERY poorly featured. Even the cheapest crappiest Chinese double DIN touch screen stereo will be better.

Buying Second Hand

3 important things to check:

1st – Is it from a car in the same country as you?
The maps are hard and expensive to update and the radio frequencies can be wrong.

2nd – Does the seller know the security code?
The code is 0000 from the factory but can be changed by the user.

3rd – Does it come with a GPS antenna?
Not a major problem if it doesn’t as you can buy them cheaply.

The Highline GPS Antenna

Most Highline stereos are sold without the GPS antenna because it is routed behind the dashboard. When people buy these stereos they assume the antenna is internal and email me when it doesn’t work. You do need a wired GPS antenna like the one shown below. This one cost me £10 on eBay.

If you need to buy one, search for GPS Antenna Blue Fakra. Fakra is the design of connection, these are colour coded. You need blue.

Fit To A Facelife 451 With A Lowline Stereo

Remove the fascia, the Lowline stereo and the understereo drawer. Plug the Highline stereo in, plug in the GPS antenna, replace the old fascia with a new one. Smart part number A451 689 11 37 CR4A.

Fit To A Pre-Facelift 451 (2007 – 2010) and Forfour

You will need a double DIN surround for your car, I used this one from SmartMods.

Cut out the central spar…

…and tidy up the sides to make it smooth where the spar was removed.

Slot in and screw the sides into place.

You will need to take off about 1mm of plastic from the bottom edge of the surround (shown in red). This is because the screen slightly touches the bottom and this can stop the screen from opening.

Take your Highline stereo…

…and remove the screws from the sides.

Slide the surround forward to remove it from the stereo.

Slide the Highline stereo in from the back of the new surround and screw it securely in place.

You now have a Highline stereo with the correct outline for your pre-facelift 451 and Forfour.

Plug your blue Fakra antenna into the back of the stereo. Adapt the wiring to suit and fit the stereo to the car.

Refit the fascia, run the GPS antenna to where ever you can and give it a test.

Adapting The Wiring

The 451 has the same ISO connections, so too does the Forfour with the single DIN stereo with storage underneath. The ISO connections will just plug in but you will need to swap some wires over.

On the Forfour with the double DIN stereo, you will have a Quadlock connector so you will need an adapter. You will probably need to swap a few connections over on the ISO end still to make it work.

The Highline Connections Are As Follows

451 Radio 9 And Radio 10 (pre-facelift standard stereos)

Forfour Single DIN Radio 5

There is a 12v switched live hidden and unused behind the stereo. To get the illumination working you will have to get a CAN bus convertor and attach it to A6 and A7. Depending on the convertor you will have a range of outputs available such as switched live, illumination and GALA speed pulse.

Other Stereo Types

See the stereo connections page for other information.